Study: Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs May Not Be Good for Psoriatic Arthritis

Just because a drug is effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis does not mean that it is also good for patients suffering from psoriatic arthritis, according to a Canadian rheumatologist.

Dr. Dafna Gladman, a rheumatologist and professor of medicine at the University of Toronto in Canada, found that many of the therapies used by physicians to treat psoriatic arthritis have not been adequately assessed for that disease. Instead, their use in psoriatic arthritis is based on their success in treating rheumatoid arthritis, she found.

As reported in the August issue of Seminars in Arthritis & Rheumatism, Gladman maintains that the progressively destructive nature of psoriatic arthritis demands aggressive treatment with agents tested specifically for that disease.

Gladman said conventional drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis such as methotrexate and sulfasalazine have adverse effects that often lead to drug discontinuation, and may not always be effective in reducing symptoms or radiographic progression in psoriatic arthritis.

Gladman said etanercept is currently the only therapeutic agent with sufficient data from placebo-controlled, randomized trials to receive a U.S. Food and Drug Administration indication for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis. She added that the jury is still out on infliximab, which is just now being studied as a treatment for psoriatic arthritis in clinical trials.

Other sources: Seminars in Arthritis & Rheumatism (2003 Aug;33(1):29-37